Trump adviser Kudlow optimistic that boom times will continue

"As far as we know, President Xi at the moment does not wish to make a deal", White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha conference in NY on Wednesday.

As for the trade talks, Kudlow doesn't think that President Xi has "any intention of following through with discussions".

During an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer at the Delivering Alpha conference, Kudlow said that while other Chinese officials - including China's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He - are open to a deal to ease tensions and reduce tariffs, Xi is holding up progress.

China hasn't "responded at all, not one basis point, to our request to do something about the theft of intellectual property and the forced divestiture of our technology", said Kudlow.

The threat of tariffs led to a counter-threat from China and kicked off weeks of furious negotiations between the two countries in an attempt to reach a deal.

The administration has also released a list of 10 per cent tariffs on an additional US$200 billion of Chinese goods, which could take effect as early as next month.

Kudlow said he believed Xi has blocked progress on a deal to end dueling US and Chinese tariffs. We are waiting for him. "The ball is in his court".

Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's visit will discuss auto tariffs, which he cited as "the big one" among U.S. -EU trade irritants.

So far Trump has been vague about what exactly China needs to offer in the form of a trade deal in order for the barriers to come down, but Kudlow offered a laundry list of items that the U.S. would need to see in order to eliminate the tariffs.

But big differences remain over trade, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that European leaders were coming to Washington next week to try to hammer out a deal focused largely on auto tariffs, while his top economic adviser accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of holding up a U.S. Kudlow said, however, that he could not provide further details.